I first became aware of the car at Calder
park drag way over a year ago…All eyes were on this Purple Charger that was running the qtr at 129 mph!!.

In
fact, that night it ran a best time of 11.2 at 129and it was evident that
the ET’s suffered first time out because of the traction limitations while foot-braking at the tree when boost comes
on.(Ed note: Current thinking is that a Trans Brake is needed)

So what was the
deal?? How come so fast? What was this rampant Mopar that hadn’t been seen on the track before???A BB Wedge?…a stroker SB?…a crate Hemi?

Well, hold on
to your Hurst shifters...this monster was just a little old work horse 318!!

The beginnings -

Mark
Ellis has been around drag and circuit cars for some time, working on an Australian based AUSCAR team back in the 80’s,
and now spinning a wrench at Valiant Spares in Bayswater, Melbourne.

During the interval
between then and now, Mark turned his hand to building the ultimate streetable go-fast 318.What’s that you say, can’t be done?, need a big cam and stiff gears which makes streetability impossible?

Well Mark thought
different, and decided to combine his alloy fabrication talents with modern day thinking and produced an awesome HP monster
from the most sedate of Mopar Small Block beginnings………a Twin Turbo low comp 318 that runs on standard unleaded
fuel.

A second chance

“Little"Johnny U as he likes to be known, purchased the engine and gearbox from Mark
about 2 years back. (Mark had found that he was never going to have the time to install his handy work in a car that
would do the engine justice.)

So Johnny
set about shoe-horning this plumbers fantasy into his very tidy Purple VH Charger, a car he’s owned and been his
daily driver for 9 years.

Now, he has the little Mopar donk producing HP and times that put most brand X Big Block
owners into the shade.

Johnny
says there’s been a lot of R&D involved , particularly in the area of matching the converter to when the engine
comes on boost, and for the last few months the car has been up on stands, having a new intercooler built for it and various
other modifications, with Mark's help.

When
the car was on the road, Johnny says that it was extremely docile, but of course breaking the tyres loose for 200 metres is
child’s play with the torque that’s available with just a little weight on the loud pedal.

So Johnny
is confident that the work’s almost complete and I’m sure there’s more people than me who’ll be interested
in the times this mighty little Mopar will lay down.